Posted By

July 30, 2008, 9:34 am
Flag as Inappropriate ken7700  

  Subject

Slow Response 

Took daughter to hospital last night and it took over 5 hours to get to see a doctor. Man it seems hospitals are so slow. 

July 30, 2008, 9:37 am
Flag as Inappropriate Sierra says...

What was wrong with your daughter? I hope she is okay now. If it were me, and depending on the severity, I would have demanded to see a doctor. 5 hours is crazy to have to wait! 

July 30, 2008, 12:33 pm
Flag as Inappropriate KrisNY says...

It's crazy! Sitting in the ER is not the most fun thing to do- especially when you already feel like crap.
I think ER's are understaffed. 

July 30, 2008, 4:01 pm
Flag as Inappropriate purple says...

ERs are unfortunately always overfilled with people. Its less of understaffed than not meant to handle everything they do. On top of the trauma cases they have people who waited til after the regular doctor was closed, decided to not wait til tomorrow, etc. Out of all the beds/rooms in a hospital the ER isn't meant to handle all it does. They also have to look at severity when dealing with who got there first. If your daughter had been there three hours and someone walked in with a severed hand chances are she got bumped back. An ER isn't guaranteed to be fast, just open 24/7. 

July 30, 2008, 6:00 pm
Flag as Inappropriate 2Ronnies says...

Unfortunately the ER is not the place to get really prompt treatment. You will be subject to triage, which means that if there is someone who is more urgent than you, or that is more of a drama queen than you then yes you will be made to wait.  

July 31, 2008, 5:43 am
Flag as Inappropriate smitty says...

Emergency rooms do tend to be highly overworked and often understaffed. I don't go unless it is something that MUST be taken care of immediately. If I'm just not feeling well then I wait it out to see my regular Dr.  

July 31, 2008, 8:33 am
Flag as Inappropriate SamIAm says...

The terrible thing about the ER here is that it is almost never over-full! I live in a small town and typically there are more people in the waiting room at my doctor's office than there is in the ER. Yet it will still take hours and hours to get seen then another hour or two to get out of there. Only once or twice have I seen it as excusable. There are only one or two doctors on staff in our ER at any given moment, and about the same number of nurses and one or two registration people. So when a true trauma comes in, like one day we were there a little girl had gotten attacked by a pit bull and they had to stop an arterial bleed. That was a good reason to wait because they certainly would use all their staff for that. But when we go into the ER and NOBODY else is in the waiting room and only 2 people come out in the 2 hours we wait, well there is no excuse for that! One time we went in there late at night with what I thought was an actual emergency but turned out to be a waste of time and money (got bit by a brown recluse spider and the dumb doctor didn't have a clue). While we were there an elderly man was sitting in the ER with a broken and bleeding nose. We waited for 3 hours, and he was there when we got there and he finally got taken back 30 minutes before we did. And he was BLEEDING!! Another guy was there with a broken arm, it was swelling and you could see the bone was displaced. He finally gave up and drove himself to a bigger hospital 30 miles away. Its just plain ridiculous. 

August 1, 2008, 1:11 pm
Flag as Inappropriate mikey says...

I would try to visit an urgent care facility before an ER if the chance is given. ER's are always overworked and understaffed thats just how things are. And even though it might be a top reason to be there for you, there is a priority list that is always followed. 

August 1, 2008, 8:56 pm
Flag as Inappropriate skatss says...

Whenever I have to take someone to the ER I know I will be there at least five hours and more often than not even longer. The ER has to take care of a lot of patients so everyone has to wait.

The important thing to remember is that if the person you are with has some kind of disease you have to let the nurses know right away. When I took my mother to the ER the first thing I said was that she was diabetic and they took care of her right away. Some diseases can be lethal if the hospital doesn't know that the patient has it. 

August 5, 2008, 11:36 pm
Flag as Inappropriate flowerhorn says...

Five hours? If it were an emergency, I think the patient would already be dead. If I were you, I would yell my daughter is dying to attract the attention of the people working there. This is simply unacceptable to me. 

August 10, 2008, 1:15 am
Flag as Inappropriate SpoiledAngel says...

IT is not uncommon to wait a minimum of 4 hours where I live. The only thing i suggest is, If you think it is too severe to just set in waiting room and WAIT. Call 911 and have an ambulance come.